Feisty Bento #146: Mint & Basil

Remember Mint & Basil? Well, they're finally starting to show some sprouts. So I took some pictures. I cracked Mint a few days before Basil, so I'm hoping Basil will catch up to Mint because I don't cook with mint (I only like mint with chocolate), but I LOVE fresh basil and it's hard for me to buy (goes bad very quickly, and is expensive). Yummm.... next I want to try growing tomato plants, small ones... whee!!!

Lighting is off because it was rainy this morning; I should have taken them yesterday but Basil wasn't showing as much.

Here's Mint. I love how the leaves look slightly heart shaped, or when I'm looking at them, they do. He's got a crack down the left side of his face because when I initially was tapping to break him open, nothing was happening so I went THWACK and nothing happened but a big crack down the side of his face. Whoops. Sorry!

Close up of Mint

Basil - this was taken in my bathroom because that's as the warmest spot in my apartment (next to a steam pipe), that's where he is. I read that in the beginning stages, warmth is more important than sunlight, but Mint is thriving so I moved him out to the living room where there's plenty of light (but by the window, it's not as warm as in my bathroom). There are only two little sprouts so far, but I'm hoping more are making their way up through the debris (that weird tissue paper looking thing came in the thing, and it said not to remove it, it has nutrients, so, okay...).

Another chicken sandwich, this one cut up into hearts courtesy of Cookie (of Cookie Bento fame) - she always sees cute bento things and picks them up for me, thank you darling!!!; chocolate covered peanut butter pretzels as gap-fillers, and par-boiled bok choy in the little cup for veggies.

As always, happy bento!!!

Feisty Bento #145: Healthy - Wholesome Lunchbox!

(taken with my BlackBerry camera) Part of my new couch. Keywee's already decided she loves the couch! She jumped right up and got comfy. It's microvelvet, super plush, and I got an armchair to match as well. Which is wide enough - not quite a "chair and a half" as is the rage right now - but at 5'8, I can still easily tuck my legs up next to me and squish in for some reading; I put it by the window.

My breakfast sandwich yesterday - after the couch came (right on time- they got a nice tip!), I made myself this. Baby bellas, baby spinach, two eggs, and two slices of cheese on a roll. It only looks ginormous because it was lopsided, I swear there isn't much egg on the other side (I wanted to take a nice picture!).

Dinner - my diet has been veggie-poor lately so I'm trying to fix that by eating extra veggies. Plus the baby spinach was about to go bad, and I just bought regular spinach (79c a bunch, gotta love the Asian markets, though I'll have to wash those extra carefully!), so I used it all up - from left to right, steamed Napa cabbage, steamed baby spinach and par-boiled bok choy with a squirt of hoi sin sauce (my mom calls it Chinese ketchup) for flavor.

You didn't think I ate only veggies for dinner did you? Frozen udon cooked in some of the roasted chicken stock from the other day; tossed a sandwich bag of previously frozen chicken curry (frozen with bento in mind, but, hey, why not?) in with it and voila, curry noodles. SO GOOD. I mixed it with some of the broth to thin it out and make it more soupy, which is not a good idea if you're wearing white. I'm just sayin'.

And now, bento: I'm trying out this sandwich box again. We'll see how it goes...

Dinosaur-shaped sandwich (stacked two deep) (same cutter as Lunch in a Box, yup!) with roasted chicken slices, American cheese, and mayo; cucumber salad; homemade pickled Napa cabbage; and steamed Napa cabbage (told you, I'm trying to increase my veggie intake!); chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzels for gap fillers and as a sweet end to my meal.

And half a Fuji apple on the side as well. I didn't have time so I didn't dip this into acidulated water to prevent browning, but I don't mind, it's just me who's eating it anyway.

On the trying to be healthier note, this is my entry for the Wholesome Lunchbox event!

Feisty Bento #144: Cucumbers Galore

Top tier: mini meatloaf; roasted chicken Bottom tier: cucumber salad; succotash; homemade pickled cabbage; chocolate covered peanut butter pretzels

The recipe for the roasted chicken is coming soon, I promise! I'm falling a bit behind in the things I need to post, but it'll come... it'll come! I just have been really busy at work and trying to fix everything at home is cutting into my ME time... oops!

Also, I will be home awaiting my couch delivery tomorrow, so no bento tomorrow! Browse around my older bentos - start at the beginning, even - and see how they've progressed... from alright to fantastic and now just okay (because I'm always in a rush in the mornings now!). Haha. It happens~

As always, HAPPY BENTO!!!

Feisty Bento #143: Leftovers Galore!

roasted a chicken on Friday night for the sole purpose of making roasted chicken stock.

nice, even slices of the breast, good for sandwiches.

Saturday breakfast- bacon egg and cheese on a roll, homemade.

Dinner on Saturday night: fried chicken at a Southern restaurant

Red Velvet cake at the same restaurant.  Disappointing to say the least.

Dinner on Sunday: started off with two dozen oysters, among other things.

My fried fried fried platter.  Need to quit the fried foods lately.

When it rains, it pours.  Last week I couldn't get protein to save my life, and this week my fridge is packed and I'm worried about the stuff going bad.  Ah well, such is life, you prepare for the worst and instead get lots of yummy goodies to choose from.

Top tier: leftover fried chicken from Saturday night's dinner, shredded/hand torn; cucumber salad
Bottom tier: succotash from the same restaurant as the chicken; chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzels from Trader Joe's; mini-meatloaf

Review of the restaurant forth-coming!

And the cucumber salad had a few additions: juice of half a lemon, minced garlic and finely sliced onions, minus the red pepper flakes because I don't have any.  But still delicious, and tastes amazingly similar to tzatziki sauce, the white sauce on gyros and many street-meats.

Happy bento!

Feisty Bento #142: Collapsible Sandwich Case

New kind of box - I saw these on Lunch in a Box a long time ago, and picked one up for $1.50 at Ichiban Kan (I think, there or Daiso) back in September.  More details can be found all over LiaB (last link is the extended review)...

From left: meatloaf sandwich cut in half; mini bell peppers stuffed with hummus

This was a really fast lunch to pack.  It was super cool to be able to unfold and flatten the entire box at the end of my meal, but my biggest gripe was that some of the hummus and tomato sauce topping slipped a little and got on the kinchaku I'd wrapped around it.  (I used a bento belt to secure the whole thing since the lid didn't quite fit securely enough for my tastes.)  After perusing LiaB's posts about the box, seems like I should have lined it with plastic wrap to solve that problem... but then what's the point of the holes and how's that make this an easy case to use?  *shrug*  I'm still iffy on it and plan on testing it out with a more regular sandwich - perhaps sliced chicken, mayo, etc. - before making a final decision on the case itself.

As always, happy bento and have a great weekend!

Feisty Bento #141: Meatloaf

My first ever time making meatloaf!

Don't these look like giant shumai?

Look at it glistening gently away... with fat, yes, but delicious fat!

Top tier: mini pepper; giant shumai (recipe here); edamame
Bottom tier: edamame; vegetarian duck; cut up meatloaf

Yum baby!  Happy BENTO!!!

Feisty Bento #140: No more vegetarian!!! YAY

Yesterday's dessert to finish off my vegetarian bento... this red velvet cake was so damn good, oh yum.

No more vegetarian for me, at least not today!  Carrots, celery, and the meat from barbecue wings!  I pulled the meat off the bones for easy eating later.

Happy Bento!!!